Do you want to put shipping weight on a SolidWorks drawing? Is the calculated shipping weight a percentage of the actual weight? This tutorial explains how to put the shipping weight in a template or part so the property will show on the drawing.

You will create the shipping weight property on a template, so that any part or assembly created in the future will automatically create this variable and property. Then you can add the information in a drawing note or as a column on the bill of materials. the information can be put into either a note or as a column of the bill of materials. In this example, we will create a variable and a custom property in a part, then create equations to do the math and a custom property that will link to this variable so we can show the property later in a drawing.

Steps

1

Decide what shipping weight you wish to calculate. Often, shipping weight is calculated as a percent added to the actual weight, to account for items that are shipped with the item but not modeled.

2

Open a part, or a blank template.

3

Calculate the actual weight of the model to get an idea of the starting point.

Go to the "Evaluate" tab and choose "Mass Properties".

Find the mass in this dialog and notice all the information about this model in this dialog. Say that the actual mass is 196.66 pounds.

4

Add an equation that calculates the shipping weight based on the actual weight. In this example, we will add ten percent to the actual mass, or simply, Shipping Weight= "The mass" x 1.10

Open the "Equations" dialog in SolidWorks.

Add a new Equation by clicking Tools, Equations, Add.

Using the equations dialog, create a variable called "Shipping Weight", by typing Shipping Weight in quotations and then put an equals sig.

Expand the inputs box by clicking the chevron at the bottom of the equations dialog box. This area calls any SolidWorks properties and any custom properties.

Click SW-Mass, which is the SolidWorks property for mass. This will add the proper callout to the right side of the equal sign.

Add a custom property that will be used in the drawing to link to the equation previously created. To create a custom property we will need to click File, Properties.

Add a new configuration-specific custom property called "Shipping Weight".

Use the drop-down arrow to select the variable you just created.

6

Create a note in the drawing that links to the property "Shipping Weight". You could also put this property in a BOM at the assembly level. The custom property will automatically update to any design changes to the model.